- On the wildfire front, at least 50 structures are now known to have been destroyed in West Kelowna, but the worst hit areas of the city have yet to be surveyed in detail. Meanwhile, in the Shuswap area critical firefighting equipment has been stolen. Yellowknife remains intact for the time being but is still under threat.
- The displacement of thousands of people is creating fears about how addictions will be managed among the evacuees, due to the sharp increase in demand for methadone and similar medications in the places where people are being sent.
- As with other places that have experienced natural disasters recently, the insurance industry is warning that risks are increasing in Canada. Expect premiums to increase accordingly.
- Meanwhile Californians are still tallying the damage from floods as a result of Tropical Storm Hilary.
- On the positive side, Saudi Arabia is enlisting a Dutch company to build greenhouses to improve food security. Considerably less positive is the measures they've been taking to avoid having to share their food with migrants; unfortunately while they may be more proactive than some countries on this matter, they are unlikely to be the only rich country to do this in the future.
- Here's a map of areas expected to be unsuitable for human habitation by the end of this century, complete with the populations expected to be affected. Expect this to generate a lot more migrants in the future, which in turn will inspire more countries to follow the Saudis' example.
- A bylaw in Montreal that was introduced two years ago requires developers to include social, family and, in some places, affordable housing units to any new projects larger than 4,843ft2, or else either pay a fine or surrender property to the city. To date, every single developer has chosen to pay up rather than include the affordable housing Five of them actually surrendered property rather than do it. Sounds like a loophole that needs to be closed.
- The Law Society of Manitoba has banned two Alberta-based lawyers from practising in the province following the revelation that they hired a private investigator to spy on a judge who was hearing a case involving COVID-19 public health orders. One of them also faces criminal charges.
- AI is becoming part of the culture wars, as rightwingers rail against any attempts to make AIs more "woke". No surprise that Musk is at the forefront of this. Meanwhile, some are suggesting that it may be necessary to nationalize the industry in order to keep it under democratic control, something which I'm all for but which may be difficult.
- A test run is being conducted for a partially sail powered cargo ship. More of this, please.
- Police have seized a cache of Molotov cocktails from an apartment in Winnipeg's North End. I can't see a good reason for the average person to be accumulating these.
- While much of the world is experiencing high inflation, China is now facing the opposite problem.
- The Republican party is now divided on the issue of support for Israel. While this might seem to be a good thing, given the nature of modern Republicans it's likely that those opposed to it are opposed for the wrong reasons.
- Apparently the Wagner Group's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is hiding out somewhere in Africa. He's apparently still trying to recruit new members too.
- A store owner in California has been shot to death, apparently by someone who objected to the Pride flag displayed at her business.
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